EDITOR: Recently, like most non-retirement age substitute
teachers, I was looking at a teaching job website and was dreaming
of the posh lifestyle
“real” teachers enjoy, (regular teachers underpaid?). Try
substitute teacher life, a maximum of $16K a year and no
health/dental/retirement benefits.
EDITOR:
Recently, like most non-retirement age substitute teachers, I was looking at a teaching job website and was dreaming of the posh lifestyle “real” teachers enjoy, (regular teachers underpaid?). Try substitute teacher life, a maximum of $16K a year and no health/dental/retirement benefits.
On the website I saw something puzzling: a district needed an English/U.S. history teacher, where they’d teach three periods English, two history. Another wanted a foreign language/U.S. history teacher; and in the past I’ve routinely seen ads for English/History, PE/history, and once even for a vocational art/social science job.
Why is it that the social sciences are always the garnishing on the dinner plate of core curriculum? The Rodney Dangerfield of core, always getting no respect?
Science and math usually aren’t treated that shabbily. Imagine the curious looks by parents if they found out their kid’s Algebra II teacher was a French major in college, or the biology teacher was a British literature major, but social science? Frequently I’ve heard the comment “Oh, it’s ok, ‘anyone’ can teach history…” Actually no, they can’t.
National studies have well illustrated that social science knowledge even by Ivy League university graduates has been waning for decades, particularly when it comes to geography and civics.
The 2001 National Assessment of Educational Progress exams given to American 4th, 8th and 12th graders revealed “Nearly 60 percent of the test-takers failed to demonstrate even basic knowledge” and “the questions that stumped so many students involve the most fundamental concepts of our democracy, our growth as a nation, and our role in the world.” This would suggest that quality, quantity, and funding priority of social science education is lacking in America.
The new tougher federal standards for teachers and schools “may” help correct some of this deficiency, time will tell, but they will also make it harder to become a teacher, thus harming recruitment, particularly once the economy recovers and the baby-boomers retire en-masse.
The reality is top-caliber social studies teachers are worth their weight in gold, and that sufficiently funded, intellectually extensive social science programs are rare in American schools.
We’re a nation at war, our enemies are many; we’re engaged in many conflicts, not just anti-terrorism, but in complex political, economic and strategic conflicts. In Asia we’re facing a oddly cold-war-style opponent in China, Islamic fundamentalists are obsessed with destroying us, WMD’s are proliferating wildly, for a decade now E.U. leaders (our “allies”) have openly stated they want to “rival” and even “topple” the USA.
Thus, top-quality social science education is more important now than ever. New topic courses (having more geography and adding a “geo-politics” course for starters) are needed. If we continue to be “caught unaware” by obvious overseas threats, America’s future is grim. Social science knowledge is a key basis of collective awareness in such matters.
Steve Kenney,
MHSD substitute teacher
